Policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD)

Following 2030 Agenda commitments, Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (PCSD) is one of the main means of implementation adopted by the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) in the implementation and revision process of the National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS).

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines the PCSD as an approach aimed at integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental - within the policy cycle at national and international level, including development cooperation policies, to progress towards integrated policies, in line with the 2030 Agenda.

Operationally the PCSD, an integral part of the 2030 Agenda, can be defined as a useful approach to highlight the interdependencies between policy areas and therefore between policies; to include and thus balance the impact and effects of national policies on third countries; to account for the impact of policies on future generations, in line with the principles of sustainable development. The PCSD also studies the existence of coordination mechanisms between institutions and between the different levels of government and calls for their formalization and institutionalization (whole-of-government approach). PCSD is therefore the framework to address the ongoing and future global challenges, because it provides a working method that gives a greater vision, solidity, transversality and inclusiveness to the political and regulatory choices that are taken to progress towards sustainability.

Building on the 2030 Agenda’s principles and goals and on the EU Council Conclusions, that since 2017 are drawing attention to this issue, MASE has addressed, since 2019, the topic of PCSD, arriving at the definition of a National Action Plan on policy coherence for sustainable development (PCSD NAP) to support the NSDS implementation process.

The PCSD NAP was one of the main results of the project "Policy coherence for sustainable development: mainstreaming the SDGs in Italian decision making process to enforce the paradigm shift" (PCSD Project). The project, co-funded by the European Union under the Structural Reform Support Programme (now TSI – Technical Support Instrument), was carried out in co-operation between the European Commission’s DG Structural Reform Support, the OECD and MASE.

Starting from the 2019 OECD Recommendation on Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development, the Project has analyzed and mapped the national governance, trying to understand its potential in terms of pursuing PCSD, drawing a set of actions - shared, multi-level and multi-factorial - useful to undertake a transformative path in line with the 2030 Agenda. The PCSD Project, launched in mid-2020, supported and was included in the participatory review process of NSDS, from 2021 to 2022. The activities of the project aimed at the involvement of institutions and stakeholders, have benefited of the institutional mechanisms and civil society participatory mechanisms already established at national and territorial level for NSDS implementation and review process.

Under the scientific support of the OECD, Directorate Public Governance, SDGs and PCSD Division, the PCSD Project has analyzed in detail the Italian system of institutional relations and mechanisms for the governance of sustainability issues- The analysis was published in the document "Italy Governance Scan for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development", that led to the formulation of the "National Action Plan for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development" (PCSD NAP). The PCSD NAP was included as an annex to the NSDS document, as updated in 2023.

With the approval of the renewed NSDS in September 2023, the PCSD has become an integral part of the Italian regulation system, leading Italy to be the first country to approve a specific action plan defining a multilevel governance system for sustainability and related tools and mechanisms. The National Council for Development Cooperation (CNCS) Recommendation of May 27^th, 2022, building on the proposal of the Working Group 1 "Follow-up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: policy coherence, effectiveness and evaluation", welcomes the PCSD NAP and claims for its full implementation also within the development cooperation policies. This would support a better integration between the external and internal dimensions of the 2030 Agenda.